Disney World with an Ear Infection

[Drewsmommybear]

We've had the winter of ear infections. Every time my son turns around, he's got another one and for some reason he doesn't tell us with words that he's in pain. Usually we know that he's having ear problems because he will start biting himself and other people. he goes from angel boy to demon child and then we know.

When we were at his pediatrician's last month for an ear ache, I asked if we could just go ahead and schedule an appointment for the week before our trip. She said that that was probably a good idea. So, today we went to see our ped. When we went inside, DH says, "Oh good, my ear hurts." I stopped and looked at him. I asked him if this was the truth or a story and he told me it was a story. UGH!

So we get inside and we wait...and wait...and wait. Finally she can see us. She looks in the first ear and says it looks good. Looks in the other and says something to the fact that it is a big yucky white milky mess. She asked if he had been out of control and then I remembered that he bit his father last night. She said that if we would have waited a few more days, he would have been running a fever and we probably would have ended up in an emergency room somewhere in Orlando. DSo we left with some antibiotics (that I'm hoping don't upset his stomach) and the number to the ENT.

In the meantime, we leave for WDW on Saturday Hopefully by then the ear thing will be a little better. In the meantime, does anyone know any home remedies to at least take away some of the pain that my Superman 3 year old won't admit to having?

 

[Fabinva]

For the pain Advil for children worked well for my son, he got many ear infections and like you was a guessing game for us the parents, his gave him nor fever or pain but he acted weird, once he started screaming that our living room wall was falling, freaked me out many times and finally the Dr decided it was time to put tubes in his ears, that made the ear infections go away as long as they lasted, now he still gets them but not as often as when he was about your son's age.
Good luck

 

[labdogs42]

My son usually feels better after one or two does of the antibiotic and a constant stream of Advil for a few days. If he's on the antibiotic before you leave, you should be all set. Good luck to you! My son is the same way. We can never tell he's sick until he's an absolute MESS. I wish he would just speak up sooner! Those little tough guys.

 

[katied]

We leave on Thursday for an international flight and DS has an ear infection. He'll be 6 days into the antibiotics by then. The Dr. told me to give him a dose of Benadryl about 1 hr before take off and landing each (since the flight is so long, just 1 dose won't make it), just to help make him more comfortable on the flight. You may want to ask your Dr. about this.

 

[Ali]

Make sure you see how Benadryl affects your child before you try it on a flight. Benadryl made my son bounce off the walls, feel like there were things eating him (his words when he was 3), scream, cry, and wiggle. He did not tolerate it and it was not sedating - was the opposite.

We leave on Thursday for an international flight and DS has an ear infection. He'll be 6 days into the antibiotics by then. The Dr. told me to give him a dose of Benadryl about 1 hr before take off and landing each (since the flight is so long, just 1 dose won't make it), just to help make him more comfortable on the flight. You may want to ask your Dr. about this.

 

[GoinToDisney]

I have used warm salt inside a sock to relieve ear pain for myself. I also wanted to mention, with all of these ear infections/anti-biotics, make sure to get him some good pro-biotics (like culturelle) to take while he is on them and continue for 2 weeks after he finishes the meds. Just yogurt is not enough. I wish someone told me this before I got c. diff from anti-biotics.... scary and not fun.

 

[lrab1126]

advil is key, keeps the inflammation down and helps the ear to drain better. The benadryl is great too. Also, if he is going to be swimming a lot, you will want to pick up some swimmers ear drops or bring along some alchohol or peroxide.

 

[DawnS]

My son's pedi prescribes auralgan otic drops for ear pain. It works wonders.

 

[eeyorefan74]

We've done Disney with an ear infection, too. Kids have such great timing, don't they? Don't know where you're staying, but if it's a Value resort, they'll let you have a free fridge for your room if you have medication that needs to be refrigerated. Motrin always works well for DD when she has ear pain. Your doctor can also prescribe you some numbing drops if you feel like he needs them. Good luck!

 

[lindsmom]

Our pediatrician gave us a script for the otic drops as well; haven't needed them yet (cross fingers). He also recommended warming some olive or vegetable oil and applying some drops to the ear that hurts as a quick fix.

We're also fans of advil! And usually about 24 hours after the antibiotic starts, dd is pain free (sometimes as much as 48 hours but you should be okay).

 

[Drewsmommybear]

Thank you guys for all the great advice. We usually use Motrin but I think we're going to switch to Advil for a little bit. Today he was acting completely normal and then we got to naptime. We had a three hour meltdown so I know he's hurting. I'm also going to try the warm salt in the sock trick...if he can sit still that long. I think the one thing we have going is that we're not flying.

This is the sixth one of these since October. I think I'm going to call tomorrow and talk about a probiotic. DS is getting sick of me trying to get him to eat more yogurt. Poor guy.

But thanks again, you guys. There should be a support group for mother's of kids with chronic ear infections.

 

[katied]

A friend of mine had a son with chronic ear infections. They got the tubes put in when he was around 22 months and had his adnoids removed. He's been doing great ever since - does not need meds all the time. The pediatrician just kept giving antibiotics, but finally they got sick of it and went to a pediatric ear nose and throat specialist - it was an outpatient deal, and there was almost no recovery time. Might be worth thinking about...

 

[sherabby]

My son (who is now almost 8) has had two sets of tubes and we avoided the third set this year buy switching doctors who worked better with him to get rid of his ear fluid. He never ever complaine about ear pain whenever he had infections and even the doctors could not believe that he had no pain. I remember having ear infections as a child and they hurt me!

 

[RMulieri]

Make sure you see how Benadryl affects your child before you try it on a flight. Benadryl made my son bounce off the walls, feel like there were things eating him (his words when he was 3), scream, cry, and wiggle. He did not tolerate it and it was not sedating - was the opposite.

Actually this is a frequent thing to happen with benadryl in both the young and elderly alike.Instead of sedation it reves people up.I second you on your try it out before you leave.

 

[dzorn]

Thank you guys for all the great advice. We usually use Motrin but I think we're going to switch to Advil for a little bit. Today he was acting completely normal and then we got to naptime. We had a three hour meltdown so I know he's hurting. I'm also going to try the warm salt in the sock trick...if he can sit still that long. I think the one thing we have going is that we're not flying.

This is the sixth one of these since October. I think I'm going to call tomorrow and talk about a probiotic. DS is getting sick of me trying to get him to eat more yogurt. Poor guy.

But thanks again, you guys. There should be a support group for mother's of kids with chronic ear infections.

Advil and Motrin are the same medication just different brands no need to switch.

 

[stlocke]

He should be on the mend by the time you head out for your trip with the antibiotics, but if I were you, I would have your son checked once again by the doctor to make sure the infection is gone or almost gone like the day before you leave. The only reason I say this is because we had a very difficult trip with my daughter because of ear infections. My daughter too had chronic ear infections when she was little. At 18 months she got ear tubes, which made a 100% difference with her speech and with the constant infections. Even though they fell out about 6 months later, she's had very few infections. When we went to WDW for our December 2006 trip (she was about 3 1/2 at the time), we left and she was in the process of healing from one ear infection (taking antibiotics, etc.). I don't know what happened, but over our 7 days at Disney, her almost healed ear infection turned into a double ear infections AND bronchitus! Needless to say, the end of our trip was not too much fun. One evening was spent at the Magic Kingdom first aid clinic and we had to have EMT's come and listen to her breathing, but they decided it wasn't bad enough to call an ambulance.

I don't want to scare you, but wanted to tell you my story because I don't want that to happen to anyone, especially at the Happiest place on earth! Talk to the Doctor about this and maybe they can either prescribe another dose or a stronger medication. By the time my daughter got tubes, all doses of amoxicillin didn't work anymore and we were using the Z-Pack to get rid of the infections because she had had so many ear infections and treatments of amoxicillin.

I hope all goes well and that you have a fun trip! Even if he's still not feeling well, you can still have fun. Just take it slow and don't stress about seeing everything. Good Luck and Have fun!

 

[LoveMyDisneyCats]

Just wanted to put in my two cents about the Benadryl suggestion....
It made my daughter sleep for about 10 minutes and then act totally hyper the rest of the 2.5 hours! And she's not really a hyper kid so it really did a number on her! Try it out beforehand.

 

[Manda]

My son (who is now almost 8) has had two sets of tubes and we avoided the third set this year buy switching doctors who worked better with him to get rid of his ear fluid.

I think this is a very good point that a lot of doctors miss. Doctors (ENTs, especially) always seem to want to do tubes to drain the fluid, but they don't try to find the underlying reason for why that fluid is building up in the first place. In our case, my son had 7 months of straight ear infections before we saw an ENT that wanted to put tubes in him. I took him to an allergist instead. Turns out he was allergic to milk. As soon as I cut out milk, the fluid left and no more problems. Just adding tubes to keep the fluid draining out of the ears is not treating the source of the problem.

For the original poster... we went to Miami during DS's ear infection craziness and he got an infection while he was down there. I agree with what another poster said about getting his ears re-checked as close to your departure as possible. Brings lots of ibueprofen in your bags and go ahead and talk to your insurance company to find out the nearest covered walk-in clinic - just in case. Interestingly, the doctor we saw in Miami told us that fluid-filled ears actually fly better than healthy ears. The fluid in the ear does't contract and "pop" like air does.

 

[sherabby]

I think this is a very good point that a lot of doctors miss. Doctors (ENTs, especially) always seem to want to do tubes to drain the fluid, but they don't try to find the underlying reason for why that fluid is building up in the first place. In our case, my son had 7 months of straight ear infections before we saw an ENT that wanted to put tubes in him. I took him to an allergist instead. Turns out he was allergic to milk. As soon as I cut out milk, the fluid left and no more problems. Just adding tubes to keep the fluid draining out of the ears is not treating the source of the problem.

I totally agree. We do see a pediatric allergist because my son was diagnosed at 2 weeks old with a milk allergy. He has many other ones as well both food and environmental. It was the environmental ones causing the ear fluid. he does take two meds a day for allergies and uses nasonex. We were told to put a humidfier in the bedroom. It took from October to Feb for his one ear to finally drain on its own but we avoided those tubes that his other doctor wanted to immediately insert! He said, Well you know his track record (two sets) and I said hey wait maybe he is outgrowing this now. I dreaded another summer without water in the ears and those darn plugs and ear band it! Now he can swim like a normal child!

 

[Drewsmommybear]

So it's been three days since my original post. We talked to the pediatrician today and I can't get an appointment so we're going to Disney World with this crazy antibiotic that we've never used before but it must be really strong. We're eating tons of yogurt and we're bringing ear drops and the Motrin. I just asked him if his ears hurt, he says no.

You know, come to thing of it, he was on anitbiotics when we made the trip last year. I can't really remember but I think it might have been his ears then too. We have the number of an ENT to call as soon as we get home.

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions! Wish us luck.

Crazy Vacation here we come!